America's Byways® Resource Center

January 2012

Roadside Reflections

Byway Resources For The Asking!

Marketing Boot Camp For Byways: A Success

Field Notes

News From The National Scenic Byway Foundation

Calendar

Roadside Reflections: An Important Letter To The Byway Community

Earlier this month we announced the upcoming closure of the America's Byways Resource Center. The kind words of encouragement for our work were greatly appreciated by our staff. Here's the news announcement, in case you missed it. We will keep you informed as we make our final arrangements. Thanks again for your support.

Michelle

Dear Byway Community:

As we welcome the New Year, we also begin our work of closing the Resource Center. Funds allocated to the America's Byways Resource Center by Congress were withdrawn by the Secretary of Transportation.

• Our first priority is to identify which of our products and tools can have a lasting legacy for the byway community. Our parent organization, the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission (ARDC), owns the rights to all the products, materials and publications. We will assess, in consultation with ARDC and FHWA, our products, services and publications for their long-term benefits and potential life beyond the Resource Center.
• Our second priority is to provide as much advice, information and technical assistance as we can to byways before we close the doors. We have developed many valuable products for byway management and development such as Byways 101, Economic Impact Tool, National Scenic Byway Program Coordinator Guide, www.BywaysResourceCenter.org, and the Journal for America's Byways, etc. We also provide excellent customized technical assistance. We will make every effort to ensure that byways have as much information and resources as we are able to provide until our office closes.

Our current plans include closing the Resource Center to you, the byway community, on June 30, 2012.

We are grateful for your past support and appreciate your ideas and comments. During the next six months, we will use Vistas, our website, emails, and personal communications like this to share important news.

If you have any comments, concerns or specific questions, please contact me by email or phone.

On behalf of the entire staff at the America's Byways Resource Center,

Michelle Johnson

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Byway Resources For The Asking!

With the Resource Center closing this summer, NOW is the time to avail yourself and your byway of the many tools, publications and aids designed to help byway organizations with governance, management and sustainability.

On February 23, 2012, the Resource Center will host a webinar, The Resource Center is Closing: Get What You Need Now!, on how to make the best use of the bywaysresourcecenter.org website, where to locate resources and documents and how to request them.

The list below is just a sample of the many of the tools and aids you can find or request online at www.bywaysresourcecenter.org, as well as services, resources and publications available for the asking.

Technical Assistance

• Technical Assistance - Curt, Duane, Rob or Wayne
• Tribal Liaison - Cheryl Cloud

Training

• Byways 101
• Upcoming Webinars
• Recordings of previous webinars Click to see the full range of topics
• Events Calendar Upcoming training, conferences and learning opportunities
• National Scenic Byways Program Coordinator Orientation Guide created specifically for statewide & tribal program coordinators

Tools

• Economic Impact Tool
• Byways Assessment Tool
• Byway Project Database

Marketing Opportunity

• Rand McNally "Best of the Road®" Submit brief travel itineraries to be eligible to be featured on the blog, Best of the Road®, and possibly other media; deadline extended to January 30

Publications - Books, Newsletters, Brochures

• Vistas (Newsletter) from 2012 back to 1997
• Journal for America's Byways (Periodical)
• Wayshowing For Byways: A Reference Manual
• Conserving Our Treasured Places: Managing Visual Quality on Scenic Byways (Book)
• From Milestones to Mile-markers: Understanding Historic Roads (Book)
• Making the Grassroots Grow: Building and Maintaining Effective Byway Organizations (Downloadable book)
• An Introduction to Online Strategies for Leveraging your National Scenic Byway Designation (Downloadable book)
• Universal Design for Byways
• Teleworkshop Fact Sheets (Downloadable 4-page primers on 24 separate topics)

E-mail List

• Join our e-mail list to receive e-mail updates on training opportunities, products and news from the Resource Center

Contact your Byway Specialist for a list of many documents and brochures not listed above: www.bywaysresourcecenter.org/about/people/states/

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Marketing Boot Camp For Byways: A Success

Back in October, the America's Byways Resource Center hosted a multi-day learning opportunity titled Marketing Boot Camp for Byways. This onsite training focused on building organizational capacity for byway marketing efforts, covering topics such as branding, marketing research, website development, and partnership and destination marketing.

During the course of the Marketing Boot Camp, each participant was asked to write specific goals that he or she wished to accomplish within 60 days of attending the training. On January 4, 2012, the Marketing Boot Campers had a reunion via phone to discuss the progress they made toward their goals and the challenges they have faced along the way.

From the Resource Center's perspective, the call also helped to indicate the effectiveness of the boot camp training by measuring the ways that information from the training had been used to implement changes in participant behavior and their organizations. This is referred to as measuring "transfer of learning" in the Training and Development world.

As participants shared stories with the group, it became clear that their efforts so far were extraordinary. Tales were told of website improvements, presentations delivered to stakeholders, revised marketing plans and new partnerships. All these stories pointed to training success!

On behalf of the Resource Center, thanks to all of the Boot Camp participants for your efforts and enthusiasm. Thanks also to the Peggy Bendel and Hank Todd for their expert facilitation.

If you're on LinkedIn (or want to be!), join your byway peers in a special online group there to continue discussions about marketing byways. E-mail Ryan Matara (rmatara@byways.org) to receive an invitation.

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Field Notes

From Indian Country: Designation Discussions With The Menominee Indian Tribe

by Cheryl Cloud, Tribal Liaison

A 24-mile stretch of the Wolf River, from the Langlade-Menominee county line downstream to Keshena Falls, was designated as a National Scenic River in 1968 under P.L. 90-542, 16 U.S.C. 1271 et. seq. as one of the most scenic and rugged rivers in the Midwest. The designation preserves and safeguards its natural, cultural and recreational values in free-flowing condition for the enjoyment of present and future generations.

Since May of 2011, I have been in discussions with the Sokaogon Chippewa Community (Mole Lake) and Menominee Indian Tribes about their guarded interest to explore nominating State Highway 55, which runs between their two reservations and adjacent to the Wolf River, for designation as a Scenic Byway.

The Sokagon Chippewa (Mole Lake) Tribe has been active in green tourism, historic building restoration and sharing the rich history of the Woodland Indians of the Great Lakes. The Menominee Indian Tribe has a new tribal museum and is also very interested in telling their story, their history.

In December, I had the honor of speaking before the Menominee Tribal Legislature in Keshena, Wisconsin, about the National Scenic Byways Program and what potential lies within that program. As any Tribal person knows, the challenge lies in finding the "sweet spot"--a balance in the protect-versus-promote dilemma. Having sacred, treasured places myself that I wish only to be availed to me, my family, my people, I am fiercely protective of sharing those places with the outside world. Seldom do they understand the depth, or the nature, of the spiritual kinship that I, as a Native American, have for the land. I know firsthand what goes through a Tribal person's mind, eyes and heart during any discussions of potentially opening parts of our land, history, story and sacred things to the outside world. One's heart naturally feels conflicted. Yet none of us fails to recognize those things that are universally bigger, those things that cannot, simply will not, be possessed but were put here by our Creator for all. Discussion about such things touches the core of who I am, evokes noticeable emotion in me--and in all Tribal people. You could hear that in my voice as I spoke and feel it in the meeting room that evening. This is neither a simple nor an easy thing to contend with.

That being said, proceeding with courage and commitment to its people, by official Menominee Tribal Legislature motion, the Tribe agreed to further investigate the possibility of national scenic byway designation along the Wolf River corridor by assigning tribal committees to work together to vet the pros and cons and potential benefits and impacts for/to the Tribe. I am honored to be named to that working committee as the Tribal Liaison to the National Scenic Byways Program, and I look forward to working with both the Menominee and the Mole Lake Tribes in this endeavor. As one in heart with my Native brothers and sisters, I do not take this charge lightly...but seriously, always with an eye towards the seven generations.

Making The Mississippi River Experience More Accessible

by Wayne Gannaway, Byways Specialist

Local, regional, state and federal stakeholders were packed into the conference room at the Mississippi National River Recreational Area (MNRRA) in St. Paul, Minnesota this past December. Though they are all very busy managing park, bicycle and transportation programs, these stakeholders are united by one key goal: How can they make the Mississippi River experience more accessible without jeopardizing the intrinsic qualities or adding to traffic congestion or the carbon footprint? The diverse list of stakeholders attending the meeting matches the level of interest in the Mississippi River in the Twin Cities area and the level of recreation and preservation activity there. The meeting initiated a new opportunity to collaborate to realize benefits that no single stakeholder could achieve alone.

The MNRRA, a unit of the National Park Service, received a National Scenic Byways grant to create a Visual Resource Protection Plan. Complementing that work, MNRRA received a grant from the National Park Service Transportation Fund to develop bike and pedestrian connections to the river from all over the Twin Cities, including two National Scenic Byways: the Great River Road and the Grand Rounds. In addition to providing funding and assistance to these projects, the Minnesota Department of Transportation is launching a strategic management plan for the Mississippi River Trail in the state. All of these players--and more--participated at the meeting.

Successful planning and implementation of these overlapping projects, agendas and jurisdictions would be impossible without effective coordination. The Trails and Open Space Partnership is the coalition that helps stakeholders plan and achieve a unified vision for the Mississippi River. Through TOSP, the recent meeting provided an opportunity for stakeholders to gain information, ask questions, schedule follow-up conversations and create relationships. For these stakeholders, the river is the key organizing feature and the common platform for creating the greatest strategic benefits for their constituents and themselves. These projects are just getting started—but the collaborative efforts are already bearing fruit. Learn more about TOSP at www.nps.gov/miss/parkmgmt/tosp.htm.

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News From The National Scenic Byway Foundation

National Scenic Byway Foundation Introduces Website

The National Scenic Byway Foundation's website has a new look! Check it out at National Scenic Byway Foundation and let us know what you think!

Whether you represent a byway or have a vested interest in the success of the National Scenic Byways Program, the NSB Foundation wants to know how it can help your organization. If you haven't yet completed the Foundation's short survey, please do so by clicking the SURVEY LINK. Survey results will be shared in an upcoming edition of the NSB Foundation Newsletter.

Are you a member of the National Scenic Byway Foundation? Individual, organizational and lifetime memberships are available. Join us! Click here to BECOME A MEMBER today!

Anaise Berry
President - National Scenic Byway Foundation

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Calendar

Send calendar entries by the fifth of each month to center@byways.org.

* indicates Resource Center workshops

America's Byways Resource Center
394 Lake Avenue South, Suite 600
Duluth, MN 55802
1-866-974-6403
www.bywaysresourcecenter.org

America's Byways Resource Center is a division of the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission (ARDC) in partnership with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).

This material is based upon work supported by the Federal Highway Administration and Arrowhead Regional Development Commission under cooperative agreement No. DTFH61-08-H-00007. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Federal Highway Administration and/or Arrowhead Regional Development Commission. The Arrowhead Regional Development Commission is an equal opportunity employer.